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Casket
The Caskets are Forerunner artifacts built for combating small, system-wide Flood outbreaks. The function of a Casket accelerate the processes of the star of a system, causing it to erupt in a supernova effect, albeit presumably more powerful. During the Forerunner-Flood war, they were used as last resorts, to deny the Flood of a star system's organisms. The UNSC search for the Caskets in the 26th century was known as Operation: EUREKA. Function When activated, a Casket builds up a large amount of energy, then sends a number of small probes through slipspace into the heart of the system's star. These probes then act as catalysts in that star's nuclear fusion reactions, speeding up the reaction, and thus the star's life cycle. For a star at the very beginning of its life, this process takes only about an hour to exhaust its entire life. Once the supernova stage is reached, the probes cease to function, becoming fuel for the supernova itself. Even stars which wouldn't naturally supernova do anyway, as a result of the sheer speed at which they completed their life cycle. The supernova engulfs the entire system, and all its planets, denying the Flood of valuable resources. They were highly effective in their task, as the resulting supernova was responsible for the destruction of the system, giving them a 99.86% success rate against Flood, according to the AI 049 Abject Testament. History Creation and Forerunner-Flood War The Forerunners built the devices as weapons of early use in the first Flood outbreak. According to Forerunner containment procedures, they were to be activated as soon as a system was deemed beyond saving. In reality, this occurred after almost every Flood incursion. The existence of only four Caskets in 2552 is testament to this; two were found only partially complete, in storage, Iota-03 and Kappa-02 were not activated because their systems, now called Crystal and New Jerusalem, were overrun before they could be activated, and only Epsilon-09 was stationed on a system that was not overrun at all, rather abandoned in favour of the Greater Ark. Operation: EUREKA Battle of Crystal During the Covenant invasion of Crystal, the Sangheili co-pilot of Sasuun 'Grtamee was responsible for the activation of the first known Casket, Casket Iota-03. Unable to activate the device himself, being a Sangheili, not a Reclaimer or Forerunner ancilla, he presumably used either a captive Huragok or Human to activate the device, subsequently destroying the system. New Jerusalem The Armoury Skirmish for the Requisition Expedition into Covenant Space OPERATION: GRAVITY Known Caskets Casket Iota-03 The first Casket encountered by UNSC forces, discovered buried under the planet Crystal. The discovery of it led to the creation of Task Force Bravo, in the hope of preventing the Covenant from finding them and using them against the UNSC. This Casket was activated in 2551, destroying the planet and the system. Casket Kappa-02 The only active Casket found on New Jerusalem. Caskets Storage-03 and Storage-07 The inactive Caskets found on New Jerusalem, in The Armoury. These were loaded onto the stolen CSO-Class ship Requisition of Prosperity, in order to deliver them to Reach. When the ship lost all power, and its occupants were forced to evacuate, these Caskets were left unguarded. When their location was leaked to the Covenant by Eric Baker, a large battle ensued, in order to secure the two Caskets and a number of other relics taken from The Armoury that were aboard the ruins of the Requisition of Prosperity. The UNSC eventually gained victory in this battle, and the two Caskets were delivered to Reach. Casket Epsilon-09 The only Casket successfully retrieved by the Covenant. It was taken aboard a Prisoner of War slave labour camp, deep in Covenant space, and then on to High Charity. Because it was known that only humans could activate Forerunner artifacts such as that, it was then loaded onto a CAS-class assault carrier, which then jumped back to the Prisoner of War camp. It was presumed destroyed when Task Force Bravo self-destructed the station, with the assault carrier nearby. However, 343 Guilty Spark on Installation 04 confirmed, with his Installation's sensors, that it remained intact, and in Covenant hands. Category:Bravo's Adventures